Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Cairo tells Turkey not to meddle in Egypt’s internal affairs

The new Egyptian government has warned Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government officials against meddling in the North African’s internal affairs. In an interview with Turkey’s English-language daily Today's Zaman on Sunday, Erdogan said that ousted leader Mohamed Morsi is the only legitimate president of Egypt. "Currently, my president in Egypt is Morsi because he was elected by the people," he stated. "If we don't judge the situation like that it is tantamount to ignoring the Egyptian people.” In separate statements, Turkish government officials recently denounced the Egyptian military's removal of Morsi, the country's first democratically elected leader, as an "unacceptable coup”. On Tuesday, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry expressed "strong resentment at comments like these, which… represent a clear intervention in internal Egyptian affairs," said Badr Abdelatty, the ministry spokesman. Later in the day, Egyptian presidential spokesman Ahmed Elmoslmany also issued a statement about the issue, saying, “I consider the (Turkish) statements inappropriate and I consider it interference in Egyptian internal affairs.” "I clearly say to Ankara, it should respect Egyptian sovereignty and the will of the Egyptian people. Egypt did not interfere in what happened in Taksim Square," Elmoslmany said, referring to anti-government protests in Istanbul last month. "Turkey has to understand it is speaking about a big country with a great history," he added. Meanwhile, according to a report published on Tuesday in Today's Zaman, Turkish President Abdullah Gul demanded the immediate release of Morsi, who is being held incommunicado at an undisclosed location. On July 13, several Egyptian MPs in the disbanded upper house of parliament also rejected the ouster of Morsi. Speaking at a public rally organized by the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo, some two dozen members of the Shura Council demanded the army reinstate Morsi, and called on other legislatures across the world not to recognize Egypt’s new military-appointed administration. They rejected the legality of any action taken following what they called a military coup d’état against the elected president -- including the dissolution of the parliament. In a televised speech late on July 3 night, Egyptian army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced that Morsi, a former leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, was no longer in office and declared that the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court, Adly Mahmoud Mansour, had been appointed as the new interim president of Egypt. The army also suspended the constitution. Army officials said ousted President Morsi, who took office in June 2012, was being held “preventively” by the military. On July 4, Mansour was sworn in as interim president. Next day, he dissolved the Shura Council by decree. On July 5, Muslim Brotherhood supreme leader Mohammed Badie said the coup against Morsi is illegal and millions will remain on the street until he is reinstated as president. Badie vowed to "complete the revolution" that toppled the Western-backed regime of former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak in 2011. The Egyptians launched the revolution against the pro-Israeli regime on January 25, 2011, which eventually brought an end to the 30-year dictatorship of Mubarak on February 11, 2011.

No comments: